Accounts of a journey in the past '08

[Sheriff Roland]

and the Shania Twain Centre:

we only entered the lobby

[Sheriff Roland]

The Timmins library is made of wood ... an ode to one of Timmins' two founding industries.

[injest]

Shania Twain! 

[Sheriff Roland]

Shania Twain! 

Yea, Shania Twain:

[Sheriff Roland]

And in my search for those pics, I came across 'The house where Shania Twain lived in Timmins'

This is actually THE house that my grandfather built. The house in which all of his kids, including my mom were born. This house is just two doors away from where I was raised in Timmins, and a block away from where Daniel's house is.

Btw, that house on the left is where my great grand mother lived (on my mother's mother's side), with another one of her daughters and my mother's cousins - who were all around my age.

[Sheriff Roland]

Starting from Timmins for what would end up being the most exhausting driving day of the trip  we left after 7 am after having slept poorly ... The alarm went off at 2:30 am and as I've already mentioned at the start of the trip, I don't sleep well the night before any long trip. Passed through Kapuskasing and Hearst, worth the mention cause I spent an year of my life in each of those towns way back in 1966-67 and 1979-1980. Bryan's been pretty pleasant most of the trip, but he's been bitchy when we started long stretches of driving (leaving Toronto on Sunday, leaving Timmins Tuesday).

Bryan took some wonderful scenery pics along the way - nothing in Kap and very little in Hearst.

Trees are noticeably shorter this far north. Supprisingly, the forest industry is nonetheless the most important industry along this road (other than the farming). De plus, c'est très francophone. Plus de la moitié de la population (en dehors des 'grandes' villes de Timmins, North Bay et Sudbury) est francophone.

near Timmins, going north

[Sheriff Roland]

Stopped by the side of the road (a couple a times a day) to allow Bryan to 'mellow out'

Took this picture shortly after leaving Kapuskasing - the trees are sooo short!

and check out how much snow was still on the ground  this, on April 15

[injest]

poor Bryan....seems like traveling is hard on him.

[Sheriff Roland]

Along the way we came across very little - flat lands, snow farms, utility workmen on snowmobiles ...

[Sheriff Roland]

... spaceships (sorry, no pics), dinosaurs ...